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Europa
Europa was covered mostly in water-ice, and had a saltwater ocean buried under its surface. After constructing an artificial atmosphere around Europa and putting solar mirrors within its orbit, its surface melted and it become a deep blue ocean-world. Many artificial islands were set up in the Europan ocean, and millions of forms of aquatic life were brought from Earth to fuel a fishing industry. History Europa was a small moon made almost entirely of solid ice, with a saltwater ocean under the surface. Earth space programs famously wanted to explore this ocean in the hopes that they might find extraterrestrial life on its surface. However, when the humans arrived on the surface of Europa in 2226 AD, they discovered no native life. In the 2240s, the humans returned to Jupiter during the Galilean Colonization Initiative. The first Galilean colony on Ganymede sent more colony ships to Europa, and officially settled on its surface in 2246 AD. Because Europa was situated in Jupiter's Radiation Belt, the first Europan colonies were a small fleet of orbital stations that orbited around the moon. Explorers would only descend to the surface for several hours at a time to build bases under the ice that were shielded from radiation. The first Europan Sub-surface colony was completed in 2248, and grew much larger over the next few decades. After a short period of excavating downward, through Europa's icy crust, colonists began building their civilizations in Europa's saltwater oceans. Eventually, over the course of the following century, more settlements were built on the Europan seafloor, directly above Europa's rocky mantle and safe from radiation. In 2313, scientists from the Union of Colonized Planets were pleased with the success of the Magnetosphere Coil Project which had generated a substantial magnetosphere on the moon Io, protecting it from the Radiation Belt. They were eager to replicate the project again on Europa, and upon getting permission from the native people, began constructing their electromagnetic coil around Europa's metallic core. Recognizing the ongoing success of the magnetosphere experiments, the Martian Terraforming Institute contacted the Europans in 2345 AD about attempting to generate an atmosphere around the small moon by heating its surface with solar mirrors and building atmospheric generators on its surface. The Europans agreed as they had already witnessed promising results on Ganymede and Io. Given the size of Europa, the generation of an atmosphere was was a bit trickier than it was on the other moons. By 2455, the Europan atmosphere had been completed and the moon was officially recognized as a terraformed colony by the UCP. MTI wanted to bring as much wildlife to the Europan oceans as they had brought to Ganymede, however the UCP didn't want Europa to become too self-sufficient. Europa had more raw metals and other valuable resources than Ganymede, so the UCP reasoned that it was technically more valuable and couldn't afford to be lost. Consequently, Europa had only very basic wildlife in its oceans and needed to continue buying most of its food from Ganymede. In the 2550s, the Ganymedeans offered to ally themselves with the other Jovian moons in order to gain independence, and a means of controlling their own resources. Europa was hesitant at first but eventually agreed to assist in the resistance movement. After the Jovians received their independence in the 2630s, MTI scientists helped herd countless animal and plant species to Europa and designed a unique ecosystem. Eventually the Europans followed in Ganymede's footsteps and utilized Jupiter's small irregular moons to construct artificial islands and continents that would float on the surface of the ocean. Culture TBA Surface Features Europa was originally frigid and barren, covered with a thick outer layer of ice. This outer layer also acted as an insulator for a large underground ocean of liquid saltwater. After atmospheric alteration and the the introduction of solar mirrors, the surface of Europa melted, making the surface of the moon a single massive saltwater ocean. Later on, asteroids and irregular Jovian moons were cannibalized and turned into rocky continents which floated on the surface of Europa's oceans. Fauna and Flora Europa had a myriad of Earthling life that was imported after its surface features were made more earth-like. Most of the flora and fauna imported to Europa was aquatic, or genetically altered to be. After the introduction of continents to the Europan surface, more land-based life was introduced. External Links